This invention relates to an easily adjustable vise capable of holding stair rails and like workpieces, as well as a variety of other articles.
Woodworking and finishing stair rails, accessories and other fine items of woodcraft and construction oftentimes require that the piece being worked upon be held firmly in place while the work is proceeding but yet not held in such a manner that damage, such as vise jaw impressions, scratching, and the like, occurs to the workpiece. Furthermore, the pieces being worked upon oftentimes vary in size and shape so that any equipment used to hold the workpieces beneficially should be able to accommodate the variations in size and shape.
Examples of clamps or tools which have been proposed for holding workpieces of one kind or another include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,834,352, 2,249,651, 4,483,059, 3,836,136, 4,083,548 and 4,850,254. The tools disclosed in these cited references, although serving some selected needs of the user, nevertheless do not provide the flexibility and adaptability to allow for securely holding a fine crafted workpiece of wood or like material so that the chances of damage to the workpiece are minimized. Further, these tools generally lack the convenience of being able to accommodate a variety of different sizes and shapes of workpieces or of allowing for the convenient positioning of workpieces in multiple orientations to accommodate convenient access to the workpiece.
A number of adjustable vises or clamps have been proposed for use in which the clamps include an elongate bar on which one jaw of a jaw pair is slidable to allow adjusting the spacing between the jaws. Oftentimes the slidable jaw and bar are ratcheted so that the spacing between jaws cannot be continuously varied and the slidable jaw can only be locked in one direction of movement. Alternatively, the slidable jaw may include a thumb screw for locking the jaw in place, but unless the screw is quite large and rugged, it will not securely hold the slidable jaw in place.